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Chuck doesn’t return to the NBC airwaves for another seven months, but Remote Access readers apparently look forward to its return far more than the nearer premiers of The Office or Lost.

That’s pretty unbelievable, when you think about it.

OK, the vote totals are pretty low. Still, as unscientific (read: meaningless) as it is, it’s still an embarassment in black-and-white to fans of other great shows coming back this fall and promising new ones making their debuts. (Glee, anyone?) I won’t let factual accuracy keep me from making a big deal about it.

So come on. Cast your vote, write in your favorite show, then clear your cache and vote again if you want.

Michael Ausiello’s spies say that Chuck’s smoochy partner isn’t one of the show’s regular boy toys. It’s actor Neal Bledsoe, who’s guest starring as NYU’s head of freshman affairs. (Who knew there was such a thing?)

Blair’s involved in this sudden turn of events, naturally. Bledsoe’s gay character is in charge of picking a student to deliver an important speech and – surprise, surprise – Blair is willing to offer up her boyfriend to get the gig.

Not me, though. I always felt like the writers justified the distance between them, even if they have tantalized us with a few uncomfortable near misses. I never felt like they resorted to cheap plot devices to keep them apart (ahem like Jim and Pam on The Office). Then again, one person’s plausible story development might be another’s plot device.

Still,“Chuck Versus the Truth” marked the first time I found myself somewhat exasperated at the way events transpired to prevent Chuck and Sarah from connecting on a deeper level. And even then, it’s a bit of a nitpick in that I can — and intend to — list several reasons why this was a great episode for them as individuals and as a possible couple.

I really care about Chuck and feel for what he’s going through in these early days of Life With the Intersect.

That shouldn’t be a surprising realization at this point, but it’s the kind of thing that crosses my mind as I watch episodes like “Chuck Versus the Alma Mater.”

All of us have moments or periods in our past that we’d rather not revisit. I think that’s why I felt so much sympathy for Chuck on his return to Stanford, to the scene of his most ignominious moments. His reluctance and discomfort was so palpable.

And the way they weaved in those almost sepia-toned flashbacks was extremely effective. From Bryce callously shooting pool while Chuck is making his green mile walk to the door to Chuck’s meeting with Prof. Fleming where he was accused of cheating, they filled in some big gaps in our background knowledge to that point.

Sarah is still surprisingly withdrawn from Chuck’s emotional distress, offering occasional words of support but mainly still leaving it to Ellie to offer the proverbial crying shoulder. I loved the brother-sister interaction in this one, which really seemed to find a groove by this point.

And of course, Awesome regressing to his frat-boy days was, well, awesome, as was Morgan’s quest for the One Remote. Sauron had nothing on Harry Tang.

I’m really enjoying and appreciating Season 1 of Chuck much more than I expected I would.

I used to consider it a fun ride, a half-season of cool action-comedy that didn’t quite have the depth of character development that the second season would bring. I’m deciding I was off-base in that assessment. After last night’s viewing of “Chuck Versus the Sandworm,” it struck me that the writers did a really great job of slowly and deliberately laying the foundation of the characters, their backgrounds and motivations, in such a way that perfectly set up the heavier dramatic depth of Season 2.

So while I was a little surprised by how little Chuck-Sarah interaction there was — a couple of slightly awkward bedroom scenes, really — I was really impressed by the lengths the show went to establish what Chuck and Morgan mean to each other. They’re more than just goofball buddies but more like brothers who rely on one another.

Jumping right to the end (as I’m wont to do), the way Chuck jetted back home in time to join a depressed Morgan for the sandworm dance was pretty cool. He knew he had let his friend down and had come down way too hard on him after Big Mike’s warning not to let Morgan bring him down. And he made things right.

OK, that’s the mushy stuff that I liked about this installment of Chuck Me Mondays. Less serious but equally notable were Harry Tang’s reference to the sandworm as a space penis and, of course, Sarah’s and Ellie’s respective costumes.

It’s lame that it’s two days late, but this recap of “Chuck Versus the Wookie” is inspired by my being reminded what an awesome episode this was.

You had surprisingly little Casey for all the funny moments he had, and you had Morgan daring to aspire to a woman light years out of his league. You also had that moment, at the very end, when we learned one true thing about Sarah.

And that’s where I have to jump in, because I’d never realized that Chuck never heard her whisper “Lisa.” It’s really obvious that he’s out of earshot, so I don’t know why I thought he heard it. Anyway, the build-up to that scene came earlier in the episode in the two scenes where, while eating pizza, Chuck noticed Sarah picking the olives off.

I wondered who keeps ordering pizza with toppings they don’t like, but why question it? It was all he knew about her to that point, and the theme of the episode was the idea that she can never give him any more.

That was one bit of advice Chuck could have used in this, the third episode of Season 1 and the latest focus of Chuck Me Mondays. All summer, the fans are keeping the heat on Chuck, making sure the buzz of the renewal campaign doesn’t fade when the dog days roll by.

Here’s the episode summary for “Chuck Versus the Tango.”

Chuck Bartowski is finding out that living two separate lives is not going to come easy. After being challenged by his boss at Buy More, Chuck needs the help of his best friend Morgan and the Nerd Herd to prove that he is up to the task and ready to become assistant manager. Meanwhile, Sarah and Casey force Chuck to go undercover for his first real spy mission. It seems that Chuck’s two different lives are learning to Tango, but which one will learn to take the lead?

Jonesing for Chuck spoilers? Well, this video doesn’t have any. But if you’re just jonesing for a Chuck fix, TVGuide.com’s Q&A with Vik Sahay should do the trick. At least it’s better than the only tangentially Chuck-ish news that Sarah Lancaster has scored a summer gig on TNT’s Hawthorne.

I have a hard time being overly critical of TV shows I blog about. Oh, I’m still critical when I feel it’s called for. It’s just hard.

After all, if I’m blogging about a show it’s because I really like it. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother. So I’m predisposed to root for “my” shows. When they falter, it bums me out. The early spring episodes of The Office‘s third season were particularly rough on me.

Another rough go was with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Now this was a show that seldom reached the heights it aspired to or that I believed it could. But I kept writing about it, rooting for it and pointing out its flaws where I saw them. Usually it was too much melodrama and too much muddling of the overarching plot.

By the time it righted the ship and started to become the awesome show it was meant to be, it was too late in a couple of ways. First off, I gave up on blogging about it about a month before the finale. Second, the entire known universe — excluding a few hundred (dozen?) delusional fans — had become aware that it was doomed to be canceled.

Don’t freak out? How could you not freak out if you were a part of last night’s Chuck Me Mondays kick-off?

The blur of tweets flew by a dozen at a time until #chuckmemondays trended to Twitter’s top five topics. It’s an imperfect forum for such a mass conversation, but it’s the hip platform and therefore the best stage right now for making a big splash.

Me, I’m just glad I watched the pilot episode over the weekend to prep for this recap because last night was a bad case of Short Attention Span Theater.

Anywho, this will be the first of at least 13 episode recaps that will last the summer and span the entire first season of Chuck. Chuck Me Mondays will continue after that, and so may my recaps. One step at a time.

It’s amazing to look back and see how much of the story was laid out in the very first episode.

I know, that’s what a pilot is supposed to do. Still, a lot goes on in this show, and it’s impressive how much is right there in the pilot. Of course there’s Bryce, a few Jill references and the Intersect. But even Chuck’s dad gets a mention.

Still, no single scene established what Chuck is all about for me better than when Chuck saved the day for that sad little ballerina whose dad didn’t know digital camcorders still require digital tapes.

Chuck fans across the globe — seriously — will be tuning in to the pilot episode at 9 ET tonight via WB.com, their Season 1 DVDs and iTunes or other downloads. And as they do, they’ll be twittering their reactions and chatting it up at the ChuckTV.net forums.

Want to join in? Well, there’s a few ways you can. First off, grab a Subway footlong for lunch. A spike in sales every Monday should continue to send the show’s top advertiser the message that this is an advantageous partnership for them. Next, tell a friend or seven about the show. The only way to ensure the show’s future is to increase its viewership. Your friends will thank you.

The important part, for the purposes of Chuck Me Mondays, though, is to watch. And since no one will know if you’re watching your DVDs or your iTunes, I suggest hitting the WB. Those numbers will be tracked, and the powers that be will notice, assuming there’s a spike in viewership to notice. Besides, the picture quality is great.

If you don’t have Twitter account, go set one up. It’s easy, and while it won’t make much sense at first, you’ll soon be addicted. The trick is to keep your comments short and save space for the hash tag “#chuckmemondays.” That way, your tweets will be grouped with all the others. And if enough people do that, it could become what’s known as a trending topic, meaning it’ll be even easier to find than the usual Twitter search method.

Now to the best part (I’d like to think): my recaps. I’ll be posting weekly recaps every Tuesday so that anyone who watched the latest Chuck Me Mondays episode on Monday night can check out my in-depth take on it the next day.

Chris Serico wrote awesome recaps in his time here as Remote Access’s Chuck blogger. All that these new recaps will be is another take. Chris got to recap the episodes as a new viewer, but my perspective will be that of someone whose seen the episodes a few times. I have to say it’s been a trip to see the kind of seeds they laid early on for the stories they’d eventually tell.

Given my line of work, I’m all about attribution. So while I’m not shy about jumping on the Chuck Me Mondays bandwagon — like I plan to do starting Monday Tuesday after my Monday viewing — I have to give credit where it’s due.

If you’re a Chuck fan with any online aptitude at all, you’ve probably spent some time at ChuckTV.net and its forums. The last several weeks have been a whirlwind over there, from the Finale and a Footlong campaign to the 15 days of waiting (that lasted only 14) for renewal news.

Just because Chuck‘s coming back and there’s a good nine months to focus on other things doesn’t mean things have settled down for this Buymorian province. Chuck Me Mondays was borne of “great minds think alike” origins in which folks did some simple math: 35 Chuck episodes + 40 weeks to kill = a great way to keep up the buzz, send the network a message and wile a way a hiatus.

So I checked in with two of the fans who were there to get the scoop on what it’s all about. Kansan Melissa “Mel” Lowery is well known to listeners of Chuck Versus the Podcast while Magnus Anton Lekay, from just down the road in Lodi, N.J., is the familiar “DarthRazorback”at the ChuckTV.net forums.

I figured when I put this one up that I’d get an onslaught of angry Chucksters bemoaning the 10-month wait for new episodes.

But NBC’s announcement of Chuck‘s renewal outweighed any ire as most of those who responded to Remote Access’s recent readers poll told us they’re just happy to have their favorite spy team back. Here’s how it broke down.

We asked the following: Chuck won’t be back for nine months, tempering fans’ enthusiasm over its renewal. How satisfied are you with NBC’s plans for the show?

Nearly a third of you, 31 percent answered “It’ll be a long wait, but I guess I’m just happy to have a third season,” while another 24 percent replied, “I appreciate them bringing it back, but I’m afraid the layoff really will hurt the show.”

So, aside from a few reservations about the impact of a second hiatus might have on the show’s long-term survival, you’re all pretty stoked just to see it back at some point.

Surprisingly, the bottom two responses with 12 percent apiece were the quite contradictory “I think it’s awesome. The post-Olympic launch and the possibility of a summer extension are really exciting,” and “This isn’t a renewal at all but NBC’s way of pandering to viewers while quietly killing it off.”

Just one intrepid respondent, former Remote Access contributor Chris Serico, in fact, chose to add his own answer to the list, which was “All of the original answers combined.” That took 20 percent, besting both extreme views handily.

So I guess Chuck fans are an understanding and grateful bunch. They’re going to have to be patient too.

So the We Heart Chuck campaign is up to $17,670.94, TVbytheNumbers is promising to keep up the Chuck talk and the gang at the ChuckTV.net (link updated) forums are organizing a coordinated weekly viewing campaign that would last until the show returns.

Well I think that’s just a great idea. The summer viewing looks thin — Entourage, I guess, and Weeds — so I’m getting on board.

Every Monday, starting on June 1, I plan to post a retro recap of a past episode of Chuck. Right now I plan to make this a summer project, partly because I don’t know when we’ll see Season 2 on DVD and partly because I don’t expect things to be so slow come fall that I’ll have the time for a fun project like this.

But if I do, there are just enough weeks, with only a few to spare, to plow through all 35 episodes of seasons 1 and 2 before the show returns in March.

And if NBC’s fall schedule tanks, like I think it might, and they have to reshuffle and bring Chuck back earlier, all the better.

NBC entertainment chief Ben Silverman tells TVGuide.com the network plans to do its part to keep the show’s profile up during the hiatus.

Chuck deserves a whole season, not just 13 episodes. Any chance of more? —DarrylMATT: Actually, yes. NBC entertainment president Ben Silverman says that while the current plan is to deliver 13 midseason episodes, depending on the ratings, “we may extend it out and continue it through the summer,” where he thinks it could pair nicely with Friday Night Lights. “We’re looking to … keep [Chuck] incredibly viral and buzz-worthy until it returns, and then hopefully have it on our air for many years to come.” That’d be Awesome. And even more so? I chatted up Scott Bakula at TNT’s upfronts luncheon, and he’s game for more Chuck, if need be.

Personally, I started rewatching Season 1 at wb.com about three weeks ago, finishing up last night, and it’s as awesome as I remember. But then I rewatched a bit of “Chuck Versus The Colonel” yesterdday and was reminded how much better the show got in the second season.

So I think this is going to be a fun little project. It’ll be one more place where Chuck lives on the Interwebs during what is an excruciatingly long and unnecessary hiatus.

UPDATES: Creator Josh Schwartz tells TV Week’s TV MoJoeChuck will be back on Mondays at 8, but not until after the Olympics. Aaarggghhhh!!!!

“We are happy to be back,” he e-mailed after the Times broke the ‘Chuck’ scheduling. “Ready to serve – whenever. Wherever. We have the best audience in the world and we will do everything we can to make this worth the wait.”

Here’s NBC’s official press release about Chuck that, unless I’m blind, doesn’t mention the return date but does read like a payday for Subway.

Nikki Finke reports that the Peacock suits credit the online fanbase for the show’s return.

But the network said it didn’t cancel Chuck “because of the demand for Chuck that came out of the online community, the critical community, and the advertising base. The other shows had none of that attention or energy.” Said one of the top execs: “I was sent more Nerds than anyone could consume in a lifetime.”

Well it came two days early and with a few caveats, but Chuck will be back for a third season.

And that is cause for celebration. This is among the funniest, smartest and surprisingly deep shows on television, and it clearly has a flock of devoted, not to mention intelligent and good-hearted fans who rallied to its cause.

Whether the network heard them or only heard its own dollar signs can be debated. I doubt there’s a definitive answer to be had to that question. But me, I’d like to believe the cleverness of the Finale and a Footlong campaign, followed by the compassionate ingenuity of the We Heart Chuck effort, which has raised upwards of $15,000 for the American Heart Association in the shows name, couldn’t have gone unnoticed.

And if the network noticed, it had to be impressed as well as confident renewal would be as bottom-line friendly as it would be fan-friendly.

To be sure, all the leading observers had the show on a very positive bubble, expecting a fall pickup to be only a matter for the beancounters to work out. No one erroneously believed this was a runaway hit on the chopping block. Rather, its supporters knew it was more than some niche show and that it might actually have thrived if not for killer competition in its time slot.

No guarantees, but sources are thinking NBC and Warner Bros. could reach a deal for “Chuck” to return sometime today. However, given likely budget cuts to the show, the cast will now be dining exclusively on Five Dollar Footlongs from Subway (Eat Fresh). Not because of product placement but because that’s all they’ll be able to afford.

It ain’t over ’til it’s over, but people who are in a position to know say that confirmation of “Chuck” third-season renewal deal between NBC and Warner Bros. TV is expected later today.

As I’ve said all along, I’ll believe it when they announce it, but this all looks pretty promising. And for what it’s worth, the We Heart Chuck campaign has raised nearly $15,000 for the American Heart Association.

No matter what NBC announces next Tuesday with regard to bubble show of the year Chuck, some good will come from the campaign to convince the network to renew it.

As of Wednesday morning, $13,255.92 had been donated to the American Heart Association in the name of Chuck Bartowski, the show’s title character. The favored charity of Chuck sponsor Subway mailed a donation acknowledgment card to NBC execs Ben Silverman or Angela Bromstad for each of the 400-plus donations made

No, fans didn’t inundate the network with nuts or other snack food. They didn’t lash out at the network in a dizzying series of online tirades across message boards, chatrooms and Twitter feeds. They didn’t even hang their heads in resignation.

Instead, they put their money where their hearts are and came up with Have a Heart — Renew Chuck. I caught up with just a few of the effort’s founding members.

Laurie Taylor Gregg of New Mexico, a 52-year-old mother of six who goes by the name LTG or chuckling online, said the idea grew out of a discussion on NBC.com’s Chuck forums following the network’s May 4 non-announcement about the show’s fate.

If all I’ve got to hang my hat on in making a Chuck update post is a passing afterthought of a mention by Jon Stewart, I should probably hold off on blogging.

No, there’s no news to report yet, but there’s an air of giddy anticipation about the interwebs as Tuesday’s big announcement from NBC approaches.

——–

**UPDATE**

I’d call this good news and less than good news, if it has any bearing on reality. As a commenter points out below, Nikki Finke is reporting that one possible fall lineup NBC is mulling would put Chuck and Southland together on Friday nights.

I’d be happy just to know it’s returning, but isn’t a Friday timeslot the kiss of death?

——-

So yeah, Stewart’s a Chuck fan, and in ripping Nancy Pelosi’s torture-friendly stance last night, he gave a shout out to the Save Chuck crowd. (In other news, a blind squirrel found a nut.)

More significantly, though still in the realm of speculation, TVbytheNumbers’ latest Renew/Cancel Index puts Chuck in the ‘Renewal Likely’ category.

If that doesn’t explain all the giddiness, maybe it’s the good karma emanating from the Have a Heart — Save Chuck campaign. The effort, begun May 6, to target donations to Chuck sponsor Subway’s favorite charity, the American Heart Association, has yielded $13,255 in donations as of this morning from more than 500 fans.

Like I’ve said, even if it doesn’t sway the Peacock, it is an amazingly good thing unto itself. Sure beats mailing nuts to Burbank, with all due respect.

This is either really good news for Chuck‘s renewal hopes or it makes no difference at all.

And that’s about as decisive as it gets for those awaiting NBC’s decision about its fall lineup and Chuck‘s possible place in it.

Variety reported last night that the network passed on the David E. Kelly drama Legally Mad, meaning it’ll have to pay a $2 million penalty to Warner Bros. Studios. Those following this closely know the speculation was that NBC was negotiating a waiver on that penalty in exchange for picking up Chuck, also a WB production.

Whether there is or ever was anything to that, I don’t know, but the mag says insiders call the two unrelated. I did like this line from the piece, though.

Chuck remains on the bubble, although most expect it to return to the Peacock next year.

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